St Thomas More Hall closing

[Huguenot]

It just strikes more that the more offensive people on this thread calling people 'greedy bastards' might be wiser to thank those people who were willing to run it at a loss for several years for the benefit of what seems to be a shrinking group of foul mouthed abusive ingrates?

[DJKillaQueen]

I run a Tenants Hall (which is in essence a Community Hall owned by the council but it's our responsibilty to fund and run it - we pay rent for example). A colleague of mine involved with my Tenants Hall is also involved with St Thomas's which is a Church run hall.

With my Tenants Hall, no-one bank rolled the losses.....it just ate into the bank balance year on year. The Hall wasn't always loss making, but had become so several years back (for the same reasons a lot of working men's clubs have gone downhill). I just happened to come in time to get things turned around. I did an audit etc and went from there.

[alice]

times have changed - 40 years ago most catholics were probably irish - now we have catholics from all over europe - don't think their needs are being met by the present set up.

[sian]

Thanks to Father Gerry for responding to the emails and explaining the reasons behind the decision.

[Google]

Well thats probably a Historic change for dulwich, that the hall is set for closure.

And ie the dulwich libary.

Mind you i think ive seen more pregnant women in dulwich than ive ever sen in my life "probably needs it" but they will have to put a zebra crossing there which might cost a bit, pluss a lolly pop lady.

thats problay why the guy is refurbing his sweet shop across the road .

theres also another hall down the side of bassono street use to be the dulmore youth group wonder what that will be.

[Miacis]

Does anyone actually know how often the hall was used? From what I understand it was only used in the evenings and not all of them at that with some Sat/Sun day time classes.

It's clearly a big space with high associated running costs so it ought to be used as much as possible. Some halls do seem to have a multiple use arrangement - nursery during day then classes in the evening and over the weekends.

The challenge will be getting the finances to work including someone to organise the bookings/clean etc. From what I saw the last time I was in there it was very much in need of a wash and brush up.

FG's position seems entirely reasonable - time for us all to get our thinking caps on and come up with some ideas instead of criticism.

[pears]

I would like to see the hall used in the evening as a folk club.

The dance floor is quite good so would like to see dance classes continue there.

[Sue]

pears Wrote:

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> I would like to see the hall used in the evening

> as a folk club.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Are you aware there already is a folk club in East Dulwich which has been running in various venues for over three years? We currently run folk music events at DHFC, Upstairs at the Mag, The CPT and The Ivy House!

Click here to find out about folk music in East Dulwich!

We did in fact check out the Thomas More Hall as a possible venue for The Goose Is Out! when we were kicked out of the EDT, but for various reasons - including the high cost of hiring it - it was not suitable.

And given what has happened now, it's just as well we didn't move there!

[jamespetts]

I was rather disappointed when this hall closed, as I have been attending ballroom classes there since the beginning of 2010, which had to move (at very short notice) to the James Allen Preparatory School, which is satisfactory, but less convenient than the St. Thomas More hall.

To answer Fr. Gerry's question - the idea of having a nursery in the hall is sensible enough provided that there is sufficient demand, and is, as others have pointed out, entirely compatible with other community uses in the evening. The characterisation of the hall as "run down" seems to me to be a little harsh - although somewhat dated and well used in internal decoration, the hall appeared perfectly serviceable and a long way off being truly run down. Accordingly, unless the hall is structurally unsound or its internal decorations are in some way dangerous or non-compliant with regulations, I have some doubts that extensive refurbishment is genuinely necessary to make good use of the facility, whether as a nursery (a similar use to its original function) or otherwise.

It is the precipitousness of the hall's closure that has given rise to much understandable consternation - if it had indeed been running at a loss for as much as three years, it is difficult to see what legitimate reason that there might be for proceeding with closure so hastily as to cause substantial and serious disruption to those groups who use the hall regularly and could have accommodated its closure far more readily if a more proper period of notice had been given.

[Pugwash]

I help run a community hall which is used by around 60 regular groups and private hirers. Who ever was responsible for the management of ST. TM hall obviously was not regularly reporting back to the management committee of its finances. Our treasuer reports monthly on all income, expenditure and savings for that month. If the income needed to keep the hall solvent was not forthcoming, a decision would be made by the committee whether to put up hire charges or reduce specific items of expenditure. As a charity we are not allowed to run at a loss. If St.THH was losing money- someone should have reported this and perhaps this situation could have been avoided.

In my teens I attended the youth club at St.TMH and various weddings and community functions. At one time in the 1980s/90s people used to go every day as the bar served drinks far cheaply than the pubs.